Sweet Dream Or A Beautiful Nightmare
by As-Long-As-I'm-Around
Summary: AU. Why is Clary dreaming of a hidden world, and in particular of a golden haired boy with golden eyes? And why, when they finally meet, do they not know her as she knows them? Is Clary crazy or there something deeper going on?


**A/N: This probably won't make sense for a bit but just bare with me. I'm trying something new. **

**There is swearing in here, and probably a bit of craziness so if you're not into that stop reading now, I've warned you. **

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"Clary, you're _fucking weird_."

"Watch out Simon, I can only protect you so long from him. He won't like you being mean to me," Clary shook her head, looking pitifully at her best friend.

Simon looked back at her in disgust.

"An imaginary person can't hurt me. _Christ _Clary, still going on about this shit?"

"It's not-it's _not shit_!" Clary shrieked, giving him push in the chest for good measure. Simon grabbed her hands, holding them tightly in his own grasp as he stared down at her through worried eyes.

"Clary, it's time to grow up! I'm your best friend, I've let this slide for years now. But you're _fifteen_ for fuck's sake! This isn't normal! You need help!"

Clary gasped, reeling back. She could feel the pressure behind her eyes, and she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip to try to stop the trembling. Out of all the years she'd known Simon, from the moment she had shyly told him about her friends, remembering so clearly his expression that he had tried to hide from her, he'd never said anything as upsetting as this. He had only ever treated her with the respect that a best friend would, with gentle understanding, and it had only been a few times that she had caught him observing her through guarded eyes. His own words triggered the emotions that she had been holding back-in a far usually untouched corner of her mind, she knew what she was experiencing was wrong. But when he came to her, when he spoke to her, she just knew in her heart that it was only right. There was no room for any wrongness for what they had, so she had stored it away and left it there. But as Clary certainly knew and was experiencing, the brain was a funny thing, and emotions and thoughts were so closely linked that she couldn't get rid of the knowledge that it was wrong. And Simon's words were the undoing.

She let out a sniffle as a lump formed in the back of her throat like a hand, its fingers brushing the top of her mouth, causing a choking sound to gurgle out of her. At the change in her demeanour, his face had softened into guilt, although his eyes still held determination.

"Clary, I say this out of love, because I love you, you're my best friend. But this obsession you have with this tale… it's not real. The only monster is…well… it's _you_. It's your mind." A look of surprise crossed the boy's face as he realized what his words sounded like, and he rushed forward as Clary's face crumpled, brows pulling together as her eyes puckered up with tears. She held up a hand, which was used with such force that Simon halted painfully.

He stood watching her, his eyes running from side to side as he tried to read her, leaning forwards as if he was going to wrap her up in his arms. She shook her head, hoping that and her body's definite stance would be

"I'm _not_ a monster! They care about me! They...They are-"

"Fucking in your _head_ Clary!" Simon burst out, and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. Clary froze, her eyes widening as tears slipped down her face, but he didn't let go.

"You have this delusional other world –but that's just what it is. Delusions! There's no such thing as-what do you call it?"

"Shadow-shadow hunters." Clary gasped out.

"There's no such thing! If Jace was real why wouldn't he ask you to hang out?" Simon demanded, leaning so close that their foreheads were almost touching. It was as if he wanted to lend her his sanity, to make her understand that this was not normal.

"I don't…it's dreams! I have them every night! There's so much going on, how can it not be real! It can't all be in my head, Simon! It just _can't_! Even I'm not that creative!" She was seconds away from stamping her foot like a little child.

"You're an artist," Simon whispered, suddenly drained, "Being creative, that's what you do!"

"And you're a boy!" Clary shot back, her feelings of sadness sobering up to one of fury, "Being an asshole, that's what you do!"

There was a heavy silence, only broken by the heavy breathing that was coming from the both of them. Clary struggled to control herself, swallowing as she tried to relax her tense body. Simon was just looking at her, his shoulders slumped and his face baring an expression that Clary couldn't identify.

"I'm the asshole?" Simon finally whispered, shaking his head. She could see the flashes of hurt and disappointment in his eyes as he pursed his lips in a grimace.

"Sometimes, Clary, you're so _fucking blind_." And with one last disgusted look, he brushed past her, leaving her standing there.

Simon never just left after a fight. He was the one who would always stop her, would always wait till her fiery temper fizzled out before speaking calm words and bringing her back. He was the one who would always demand that every fight to be sorted out. She spun around, watching his retreating figure, her mouth opening and closing as she debated with herself whether or not to call out to him, her feet moving forwards and backwards as she went to run after him, and then would stop again. She was just too damn stubborn, and also hurt. Simon always had the best intentions when it came to her, but what he had said today had opened a hurt and Clary didn't know if he could fix it any time soon.

Simon disappeared.

He hadn't even looked back at her. Clary choked down the hand that still seemed to be lodged in her throat and turned to walk the other way.

She was just within a block near her house, when a figure blurred past her. She stopped, spinning around as she gasped, her eyes wide as they searched, and were only met with thin air. She felt the hand in her throat again, but this time it seemed to move down, still managing to choke her, and one hand grabbed her lungs, squeezing them so that she felt like she couldn't breathe, and then another seemed to sprout from the first. It gripped her heart in a cold grip, and then-well, it was the strangest thing. It was as if it was playing ball against her chest.

Fear, this was what fear felt like. She went to pick up her pace, but the figure was suddenly standing in front of her.

The figure was a human, but at the same time, something didn't seem quite right. It was as if ripples were dancing across the face, like stones crossing rivers. Clary blinked, trying to focus af it was something wrong with her vision. The man had his head cocked, looking surprised. As if she had startled him, and that confused Clary, because she had just been walking innocently. It was him that had interrupted her, had frightened her.

"You're different."

Clary scowled, those words hit too close to home after the conversation she had just had with Simon.

"Excuse me? Do I know you?" Simon had warned her, even Jace had warned her, sassy as they both were, that her mouth would be the one to get her in trouble.

"No. But I think _I_ know _you_." His face was still rippling, and Clary blinked, still squinting at him and wondering why her vision was doing this, even though it seemed pretty cool.

"You think do you? Well why don't you talk to me when you actually _know_." She rolled her eyes at him and went to sashay past him. His hand shot out like a whip, fingers curling tightly around her small wrist as he yanked close to him. Clary let out a squeal of surprise at this, her eyes widening from their squint as she looked into his.

"Where do you think you're going?" He purred, smiling like a cat who had just caught the bird it had been trying to catch all day.

"I know you, and you're valuable. No, I don't think you're going anywhere."

"With you, that is." The voice was deadly quiet, so quiet that Clary knew the only reason they'd heard it was because of the power behind it. It was clear that whoever this voice belonged to was of extreme importance, one not to be trifled with if you knew what was good for you.

Clary didn't.

"With anyone, actually." She hadn't even turned around, but the man who was holding her suddenly let her go as if she was a disease that he could catch. His eyes were wide, his chest heaving as he stared in the direction that the voice had come from. Clary rolled her eyes and turned, letting curiosity get the better of her. Even though Jace had warned her that this too would get her into trouble when he wasn't there to protect her from it.

Clary froze.

He didn't seem much older than her, this boy with the voice. He had dark eyes, she would say black, if that was a possible eye color to have, though his hair was sand white, and you'd think that those two colours would contrast but Clary thought that it made him, well him.

Deadly. That was the one word that jumped out at her when she looked at him.

"Nathaniel, I hope you weren't doing what I think you were about to do." Nathaniel went to open his mouth, but the boy kept going as if he'd known that this would happen.

"And save your lies. Quite pathetic really." He spoke in that same voice, that reached out and seemed to tickle Clary's neck with fingers, causing her to shiver.

"Your presence brought….unwanted company. Go now, I will..." He trailed off with a dark chuckle, "Deal with you later." He waved a hand in dismissal. Clary swallowed at his last sentence, it seemed more of a promise then a threat.

The man flinched before he seemed to disappear before her eyes. Clary's mouth dropped open, as she stared at the space where she swore he had just been. The other boy chuckled again, though the dark humour was gone from it, and Clary managed to draw her eyes away to meet his.

"I've been waiting to meet you for so long." Clary's eyebrows shot up as he stared earnestly at her. This day was, she no longer had any words to describe it. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep, and go to a world that made sense to her, even though it didn't really. But sometimes that's how it was, the things that didn't make sense in words, made sense in feelings.

"I'm sorry? I…who are you? What's happening? Is this some magic shit or something? How do you know me?" Clary sputtered, and the boy frowned.

"Magic, huh." He snorted, clearly offended.

"Is it really so strange compared to what's been happening inside your head?" He looked at her knowingly, and Clary jumped back, shaking her head as the hands inside her grabbed again, choking her so that she couldn't breathe, and making her chest hurt where her heart was bouncing against it rapidly.

"I have to leave now. As I said, unwanted company. But I rescued you, Clarissa. Remember this." His voice was so urgent, wrapping around her in whispers.

_"Remember."_ And then he too was gone, just like that man had disappeared only moments ago. Clary barely heard the hurried footsteps and the hushed whispers, all she felt was the shakes that shot through her, and her knees gave way. She didn't feel the pain she knew was there as her knees collided with the ground, all she could concentrate was the pounding in her head, and the nausea she felt travelling up through her.

"-Ace," she slurred out weakly, feeling her eyes flutter close, dark spots swimming before her vision. What the fuck was with that anyway? Her vision was all sorts of off's today. She called out for the person she trusted the most, or tried to.

"_Jesus Christ_," a familiar voice rang out, followed by a few certain curse words. This voice was, well, it wasn't exactly warm by any normal standards, but to her it was the warmest sound in the world.

"She's just a kid...Where are the others? Something weird happened here."

"Obviously, Alec."

"You don't need to be so rude," the voice was exasperated, as if used to this sort of behavior. Which, Alec was.

"It's Jace, Alec. Of course he needs to be." Isabelle, or as Clary called her, Izzy, chimed in, and she could picture the other girl rolling her eyes.

"Jace," Clary tried again, and even though the spots were getting bigger and she had the overwhelming sense to pass out, she could still see or feel all their heads snap in her direction, feel their shock radiating off them in waves that could crush.

"Jace," Clary finally whispered happily, before blackness took over.


End file.
